2018 Cuba Adventures

Our introduction to Cuba began with rides in two vintage convertible cars for a quick orientation to Havana with a stop at the famous Art Deco Hotel Nacional for mojitos as the sunset.

We saw the Plaza de la Revolucion which included the monument to Jose Marti--the principal leader in the war against Spain who died a martyr in 1895, and the Minister del Interior building that features the image of Che Guevara with the words "Hasta la Victoria Siempre" underneath.

We began our walking tour at the Museo de la Revolucion with the tank that Castro directed against the CIA Bay of Pigs invaders, and then enjoyed meals at various Paladars like this street-side entertainment at the Nao Bar Paladar near the Plaza de Armas.

We took a short ride to visit Ernest Hemingway's Finca la Viga and to the port of Cojimar where he moored his boat The fisherman at the nearby bar was the inspiration for his novel, “The Old Man and the Sea”.

The Callejon de Hamel area is dedicated to street art, live music, Afro-Cuban folklore, and Santeria. While there we enjoyed the artwork and the drum and singing that favored the rumba.

Our minivan took us 100 miles west of Havana to Vinales with its rich farmlands that grow a variety of crops, especially tobacco and coffee.  Our highlight of this visit would be a horseback ride out to the farmer's tobacco drying shed.

We stopped at San Diego de Los Banos for our visit to the old thermal baths, spa, and recuperation center. The Cuban government provides therapeutic services for all Cubans free of charge.

At the Tobacco Factory, we saw scores of women rolling the inner part of the cigars as well as where they received, aged, and sorted the tobacco leaves. 

At Vinales where our host, Dunia, greeted us and arrange for our accommodations at her place and two other casa particulars. 

The horseback ride through all of the farms to the tobacco barn was beautiful, especially since yesterday’s rains had refreshen everything, but made the going a bit muddy.  We were first given an explanation of how the farmers harvested the tobacco crops and then dried them out. 

For a dinner at Dunia’s, we got to participate in cooking the dinner during a big thundershower that shook the home and put out the lights for a bit. 

On another evening when we tried the local restaurant, we discovered a local nightclub where they not only play dance music—some of us even braved the dance floor to try out our new samba dance moves we had learned earlier in Havana.

In the morning we drove to a beautiful white sand beach called Cayo Jutias about 65 km northwest of Vinales. 

After that, we headed east toward Matanzas where we would stop for lunch and a tour of the organic farm and restaurant Paladar Il Divino.

A short time later we pulled into Matanzas, considered the “Athens of Cuba” for its literary and artistic heritage.  After settling into our two casa particulars, our guide, Evelyn, took us on a walking tour of the heart of the city.  Many of the buildings there were undergoing major facelifts and contained art galleries and artists' studios. At Lolo’s studio, we enjoyed the metal sculptures, along with ceramics and painting. 

We were amazed to see how much revitalization work was taking place in painting the old buildings and repaving the streets. The streets were filled with art galleries.

Around sunset, we stopped for dinner at the San Severino restaurant which overlooked the La Libertad Plaza where workers were installing walkway cobbles for the big anniversary.

The following day Evelyn would take us to learn more about Santeria from a priest named, Babalawo Oscar Rodriguez Pedrosa.  He spent quite a bit of time educating us on the Cabildo Arara branch of Santeria which comes out of Benin rather than the Yoruba tribal groups.  

We visited the Museo Farmaceutico which was established in 1882 by the Triplett family and was the first of its type in Latin America.

We then returned to Havana for our farewell dinner at Mauricio’s Bellavista casa Particular penthouse. Some of the party-goers were out on the penthouse deck that had fabulous waterfront views.  It was a wonderful evening visiting with friends, artists, and musicians of Mauricio and Sara along with some delicious food.

The following morning we visited  Fusterlandia which is a mosaic project that went wild throughout the neighborhood after the artist Jose Fuster began to decorate his home and studio with mosaics.

We then went to Eduardo Abela's home and art studio so we could see the artwork that he had told some of us about the night before.  Eduardo and his wife made up some delicious appetizers that included tamales and shredded pork sliders along with Cuba Libres.  Athanai and Gabby provided us with their music while we noshed. 

That night we began to get the first winds and rains from Tropical Storm Michael which later hit the US as a Category 4 Hurricane.

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